Personal Mission Field

His work poured out saints/towards ladders for the City.

  - Dallan Forgaill, Amra Chluimb Chille (Irish, 6th century)

"Go therefore and make disciples..."

  - Matthew 28.20

The Christian mandate is simple and clear: Make disciples. Disciples follow Jesus in loving God above all things, and always doing His bidding. Disciples seek the Lord, that they might know Him and Jesus better, and thus enjoy more of life eternal. Disciples walk the path that Jesus walked, and they teach others to do so as well. Disciples bear witness to their Lord and Master, and stand boldly for Him and His truth. Disciples seek the Kingdom of Jesus at every waking moment, in all their relationships, roles, and activities.

So where are these people, anyway?

I talk to pastors all over this country and in Canada and elsewhere, and they all offer the same lament: We have lots of Christians but not many disciples. These same pastors really want to make disciples, but they can't get the Christians interested in the project. Most seem content with the state of their Christian experience as it stands. They're not looking for anything riskier or more involved than what they already know.

Why were Celtic Christians, by contrast, so eager to become disciples, even to lay down their lives for their faith? Columba "poured out saints" through his ministry of preaching, equipping, evangelizing, and sending. And those saints became like ladders laid against the walls of the City of God (Thurneysen prefers "against" for the Irish, fri, rather than "towards", making the phrase something like, "against-ladders"). Multitudes climbed up through the ministries of Columba's disciples into the lap of eternal joy and life. Many of those, in turn, became disciples themselves, and led many more to the Lord.

So what are we missing? Certainly we are not experiencing the same measure of God's Spirit as they did in Columba's generation. And we put up with more distractions than he and his disciples knew.

But we also lack their vision - the vision of Christ exalted and ruling in power, sending His disciples out into the harvest as the refreshing morning dew to a world thirsty for truth and grace (Ps. 110). Columba knew Jesus and met with Him in His glory; and he passed along that knowledge of Christ to those he taught. It was enough to move them to real discipleship and mission as well.

Our churches and ministries will not begin turning out saints until we gain a new vision of Christ and His Kingdom, realize a deeper measure of His Spirit, and somehow manage to set aside as obstructions the many distractions and diversions which daily consume our time and energy.

I wonder if we have the stuff for this.

When did you last see Jesus in His glory? When next you do, it will change you.

Today at The Fellowship of Ailbe

ReVision - Conservative Christians can't have it both ways when it comes to federal money.

Patrick's Confession - Patrick wasn't much of a theologian, but he knew grace when he saw it.

What is justice? - All this week we'll be examining this question from the perspective of God's Law.

I Will Be Your God - How well do you understand God's covenant? This book could change your entire experience of following Jesus.

Pastors, we're lining up mentoring opportunities for the fall, so if you need some help in your spiritual life, with your preaching, in training your folks for evangelism, or enriching your experience and leading of worship, write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we'll talk.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.